Best PlacesGales Creek, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gales Creek, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Gales Creek ranks 8,827th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gales Creek
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Gales Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gales Creek ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$115,382 median, better than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 88% of towns
Where Gales Creek ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,416 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 30% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gales Creek
A household needs to earn about $149,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gales Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $115,382, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Gales Creek's effective rate of 0.64%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gales Creek
Gales Creek runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gales Creek.
Who works in Gales Creek, and how
Work in Gales Creek centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Gales Creek
The coast is about 54 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Gales Creek, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gales Creek, month by month
Gales Creek sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 38° |
| July | 86° | 69° | 52° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Gales Creek
Portland International sits about 35 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 9.1 million passengers in 2025, with 117 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Gales Creek
Schools across Gales Creek average a C+, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Prairie Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Gaston Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Nehalem Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tom Mccall Upper ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
- Neah-kah-nie Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Tillamook Junior High SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Forest Grove High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Neah-kah-nie High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Gaston Jr/sr High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gales Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gales Creek measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Gales Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gales Creek
Is Gales Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gales Creek ranks 8,827th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, state infrastructure, and clean air, and lowest on childcare costs and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gales Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $583,653. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $115,382 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Gales Creek safe?
Gales Creek is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $418 per resident a year.
Compare Gales Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gales Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gales Creek represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Gales Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gales Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gales Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gales Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gales Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gales Creek detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.